Northern | US

Video - 'Reckless' tackle breaks Baker's jaw in two places


Comments
Comment

Perry Baker, the World’s outstanding sevens player, is to undergo surgery to repair a double fracture of his jaw following a tackle by Tonga’s Tana Fotofili who was only yellow carded during the HSBC World Rugby Sevens series in Hamilton.

ADVERTISEMENT

Baker arrived back in the USA yesterday and immediately went to see a surgeon and is expected to miss the next two legs of the Series events in Sydney this weekend and Las Vegas next month where the USA are the defending champions. Mike Friday, the USA head coach, believes Baker, who has been voted World Rugby Sevens Player of the Year for the last two years, could be back for the Hong Kong Sevens which start on April 5.

The USA reached the final of the Hamilton leg despite being robbed of one of their most potent weapons and were beaten by Fiji who have joined the Eagles at the top of the table heading to Sydney. Both teams have 57 points with New Zealand three behind.

Baker passed a head injury assessment after the heavy hit in Hamilton but x-rays revealed the broken jaw forcing him to immediately fly home for treatment. The incident happened in the opening pool game and the referee controversially only handed out a yellow card to the Tonga player. The incident will only add to the debate over protection for players in both sevens and the 15 man game.

Friday insists the USA will not rush Baker back and said: “It was unfortunate for Perry and it was a tough tackle, legal but maybe reckless and the outcome is that Perry’s jaw was fractured in two places so he has returned home and will have surgery. We will then look at his recovery and there is an outside chance he could be ready for Hong Kong but we won’t push it.

“We will take time, let him get fit and then be able to unleash him on the World circuit very soon.”

Get the RugbyPass App 📱

Follow the biggest matches with live scores, line-ups, news and analysis, all in the RugbyPass App.

Download Here
On Apple IOS, Android, and Tablet.
ADVERTISEMENT
Play Video
LIVE

{{item.title}}

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

0 Comments
Be the first to comment...

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Long Reads

Comments on RugbyPass

P
Phantom 39 minutes ago
Nations Championship: 'The data shows the north has finally caught up with the south'

Fact: the gap between the North and the South has narrowed considerably - that I get. However, determining that only selecting only Home grown players or playing in the home country is is the optimal strategy is a bit of a toss up and highly reliant on the economies of the home union. I do understand that England and to a lesser degree Ireland selects home based only. The top 14 is a massive threat to their domestic product. France would probably not be affected (the money is at home). Fiji, Argentina, Samoa, Italy and you could even argue Scotland have only benefitted from this. Their players either go overseas to learn at higher levels (Fiji, Samoa, Argentina) or players coming into their leagues to strengthen the home product and their National teams (Scotland, Italy, Japan).

South Africa used to limit its selection to the home based players, but the reality of a weak currency vs what players could earn oversees meant that you lost access to your best players at some stage of their careers, with very few exceptions. Kolbe left SA as he was considered too small for International Rugby (yes coaches/selectors view), but ironically in France he forced selectors to notice his endeavors and select him. He is only reaching 50 caps now despite being north of 30 - granted rotation and the odd injury also played a role, but for the most part it is having debuted or becoming a regular so late.



...

17 Go to comments
Close Panel
Close Panel

Edition & Time Zone

{{current.name}}
Set time zone automatically
{{selectedTimezoneTitle}} (auto)
Choose a different time zone
Close Panel

Editions

Close Panel

Change Time Zone

Close
ADVERTISEMENT
Copied to clipboard

Share Article close